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Bringing forward the project : Rotaract Paris Haussmann

The Rotaract is an association of young people ranging from 18 to 30 years old, created in the United States of America in 1968 by the Rotary International. Positive energy and innovation are the core values of the Rotaract. Clubs engage in four domains of action: intra-club action,professional action, social action, and international action. Today, there are more than 7500 clubs present in over 150 countries throughout the world. All are working on diverse projects in domains such as health, hunger, water conservation, sustainable development, and education.

Our club: the Rotaract Paris Haussmann, created on April 8th 2009 counts twenty members who work on humanitarian and social projects with a national and international scope. All have the will to put in place humanitarian, non-profit, and social projects with a national and international scope.

Since its inception, the Rotaract Paris Haussmann has already mobilized more than 45 000 euros that have served different causes, most notably, the creation of a school in India for 100 underprivileged girls in 2011 and building a playground for orphans children in Morocco in 2013.

Key facts

Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age.

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases then, to 223 reported cases in 2012. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.

In 2013, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.

As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.

In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems.

Polio and its symptoms

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

People most at risk

Polio mainly affects children under five years of age.

Prevention

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

Global caseload

Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries then, to 223 reported cases in 2012. In 2013, only parts of three countries in the world remain endemic for the disease–the smallest geographic area in history–and case numbers of wild poliovirus type 3 are down to lowest-ever levels.